I was watching an episode of Amir Khan’s Styamev Jayate. The matter being discussed was “persons with disabilities”. He had an audience full of trustees, principals and teachers as well as students.
While presenting stories and interviews of individuals that despite being disabled have challenged the world, Amir talked about the education system and general attitudes towards these people.
It was definitely an enlightening episode…perhaps not so much for me as I have grown up in Canada but definitely for those that live in South Asia where the mindset of the general public is that the challenged person must have committed a sin in their previous life to have come back to earth in this way. Or the attitude that a child with a disability must be hidden away in some kaal kotri of the dwelling never to be seen or heard…
I was particularly intrigued by one Dr. Uma Tuli who is a pioneer in the field of inclusive education. She founded the very first inclusive school called Amar Jyoti in Delhi…one that has received many awards and recognition.
This episode got me thinking…are we doing this in Pakistan? Can we do this in Pakistan? How can we do this in Pakistan…
I am sure just like every other pressing issue, the programs to improve the quality of life for the disable are low priority in Pakistan. As for the attitude of the general public, I remember seeing a program where a physically challenged person said that one thing which always made him feel self-conscious about his situation was open lamentation of every other person who saw him and his condition, going tauba tauba, touching their ears. Bascially giving the impression that these folks are some sort of a ominous reminder. People really lack tact there which obviously can be attributed to lack of education.
Two of my mothers cousins are academics at the university level who study/teach inclusive teaching. Both of them have said the first hurdle is the mindset - the belief that if you are differently abled, you can't contribute to society as a whole.
This leads to the problem of lack of interest and funding for programming and resources to help make differently abled people contributing members of society. It's a vicious cycle.
I think there was one I Islamabad , I remember almost 5 to 6 years back bro went wth his friends regarding some project n he showed me pics of the children there, even he showed two students who were actually bro n sis, they interviewed the prinipal
, I remember almost 5 to 6 years back bro went wth his friends regarding some project n he showed me pics of the children there, even he showed two students who were actually bro n sis, they interviewed the prinipal